Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Guidebook: Grampians Climbing: Sport Crags 13-Apr-2013 At 10:04:26 AM simey

Message

On 13/04/2013 nmonteith wrote:
>Seriously Simey? Are you that upset?

Given that you have adopted a four star system, I think I was just more surprised than anything that Mr Joshua (which is hard to beat in Australia) didn't get four stars.

>There is only a handful of routes with 4 stars in the guidebook. I wanted
>to keep that rating for the absolute very best, mainly to differentiate
>the routes on Taipan, as many of them get 3 stars. Sustained climbing with
>no ledges is a prerequisite for the 4th star.

What about Blimp? That offers sustained climbing with no ledges up a powerful line at only grade 20. The elitist starring that exists on harder routes is a wank. There is more time spent dogging those super hard routes on Taipan than climbing them.

>Archimedes Principle is 25 and gets 4 stars, the only 4 star route of that grade in the guide.

Well given given there are over 80 grade 25s in the book, it seems surprising that only one route deserves four stars and yet of the four grade 33s in the book, two of them get four stars (and on the same cliff).

And while we are talking about Archimedes Principle which is on Eureka Wall, I am a little surprised that Eureka Towers (just a little further up the hill) didn't get a mention, given that Return to Gariwerd (22) is possibly a four-star route given your criteria.

>As you should know a guidebook is subjective, this one was written by me.
>Your guide is written by you. Rather than flaming this (potentially) useful
>topic for Grampians guide updates, perhaps start a new thread called "best
>25 in Oz"?

Well this is a discussion directly related to your guidebook so it seems relevant to keep it on the same thread. I appreciate that guidebooks are subjective and that you being the author have the ultimate say. That doesn't mean I won't argue a different perspective. I welcome the differing opinions expressed to Glenn and I regarding our guides and that frequently leads to changes down the track.

But having said all that, I do think your guide looks great. I could nit-pick on other things, but overall the guide looks very user-friendly and inspiring. I have no doubt it will be popular.